Every place in the world has to deal with littering of some kind. Dubai
has a very unique problem. Streets and car parks are littered with
abandoned luxury cars. Many of these have been abandoned in the airport
car park. Among them a 1.6 million dollar Ferrari Enzo. Most of these
cars originally belonged to foreign investors. Investors flocked to the
area because of the once booming property market. At one time Dubai was
the hub of the oil economy. This was before the financial crisis.
When
times got hard and investors could not afford to make loan repayments
they rushed to leave the country. Both foreign and local investors
rushed to the airport in order to avoid jail terms. In Dubai there are
no bankruptcy laws and no protection for people in financial difficulty.
Some of the abandoned cars have apology notes attached and loan
documentation. There are a few that even have the keys in the ignition. The
previous owners can not ever reclaim their cars even by paying
associated debts. This is because they will be arrested if they attempt
to. Under Sharia law it is a criminal offence to have any unpaid debts.
Missing a payment on a credit card or even bouncing a cheque can result
in jail time.It
is estimated that over three thousand high end vehicles have been
abandoned. Eventually they are impounded and auctioned to the highest
bidder.
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